Firefighters in central Germany swooped into action when the a duck was found with its plumage frozen to the surface of a lake.
The nature conservation group Nabu says the duck's physiology means they are unlikely to freeze to water when healthyImage: Oleksandr Lapin/Avalon/Photoshot/picture alliance
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A fire department in the German state of Lower Saxony intervened when a duck's feathers froze to the surface of a pond near a sewage treatment plant.
The crew successfully freed the bird from its predicament, a fire department spokesman in the city of Braunschweig reported.
The duck was then handed over to a Braunschweig animal protection organization, which also arrived at the scene, the local Braunschweiger Zeitung newspaper reported.
It was intially unknown if the animal was sick or injured, the German dpa news agency reported. However, the nature conservation organization Nabu says that healthy ducks and other waterfowl do not usually freeze to ice.
What will be the 2025 Bird of the Year?
The Bird of the Year candidates have been chosen from all those who chirp, hoot and squawk. Which bird will replace the lapwing next year?
Image: D. Occhiato/blickwinkel/Imago Images
Award given for half a century
Germany's Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) and Bavaria's State Association for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV) Landesbund für Vogel- und Naturschutz (LBV) have given the honor annually since 1971 to draw attention to the threat to bird life. Online voting for the Bird of the Year will occur from September 3 to October 10.
Image: Patrick Pleul/dpa/picture alliance
Five candidates for Bird of the Year
The five bird — black redstart, common crane, black woodpecker, long-eared owl and black stork — have one thing in common: "Each of them stands for an important nature conservation issue and represents an endangered habitat, the conservation of which it will represent for its year," explained LBV bird expert Angelika Nelson.
Image: NABU
Common crane
According to the LBV, the common crane is an exciting migratory bird in many respects. It fascinates with its elegant courtship dances and needs wetlands to rest and breed. With a body height of up to 1.16 meters (3 feet, 9 inches), it is larger than a white stork.
Image: O.Behrendt/Imago Images
Long-eared owl
The long-eared owl is the second most common owl in Germany after the tawny owl. With its feathered ears, it resembles an eagle owl but is smaller and slimmer. Like all owls, it can fly silently and mainly hunts mice in open areas near forests.
Image: Lacz Gerard/imageBROKER/picture alliance
Black redstart
The black redstart is the only songbird in this year's online vote. It is an early bird that sings long before the sun rises. According to the LBV, it actually spends the winters in North Africa and is a building breeder. According to nature conservationists, they are finding fewer and fewer nesting opportunities.
Image: D. Occhiato/Imago Images
Black stork
The black stork is more reserved than the white stork. Both birds are characterized by their long, red legs and long beak. According to the LBV, its habitat is riparian forests as well as moist deciduous and mixed forests. It eats mainly from bodies of water, including frogs and fish.
Image: Christoph Bosch/imageBROKER/picture alliance
Black woodpecker
Last but not least is the black woodpecker. As a pioneer of the forest, it opens up trees to many other cavity-nesting birds. It prefers to hammer its breeding cavity into the trunks of old beech trees. The LBV calls it the "carpenter of the forest" because "its cavities are used by over 60 different 'night tenants,' including dormice, bats and stock doves."
Image: Jakub Mrocek/PantherMedia/Imago Images
Who will replace the lapwing?
The lapwing was the Bird of the Year for 2024. Drainage and intensive agriculture are encroaching on wetlands, the lapwing's natural habitat, which has endangered the bird.
Image: OLAF JUERGENS/Zoonar/Imago Images
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Even if they waddle around on the ice for hours, such birds do not get cold, Nabu said. The creatures have a highly efficient heat exchange system in their limbs, meaning they lose little warmth even when their feet are in direct contact with the ice. That also stops the ice form melting beneath them.
However, sick or injured animals do freeze to the ice and need human help when the cold sets in for a long time.
Material from the DPA news agency was used to compile this report
